Trailer Treasure: Mmmpanadas

By Mike Sutter
AMERICAN-STATESMAN RESTAURANT CRITIC
Thursday, August 13, 2009

Progress comes at a price, and downtown that means construction has squeezed the big red Mmmpanadas van out of its spot at Fifth and Brazos streets. But for meals-on-wheels entrepreneurs Cody and Kristen Fields, the change opened the way to a higher-profile spot at Second Street and Congress Avenue, sharing with the Delish!Shakes milk-shake trailer the patch of flattened earth that once hosted Las Manitas.

Revving up the van about the same time as the Austin City Limits Festival last year, Cody Fields had fallen sideways into the empanada business while he was living in New York City a few years back, between traveling gigs as a mechanical engineer. With ingredients bought from a bodega near his brownstone, Fields said his first effort was a soy chorizo and brie empanada, a pie that survives on the menu to this day.

The $3.50 hot pastries, crimped in a half-moon the size of your hand, come in savory styles including green chile chicken, barbecue beef, spinach-mushroom and something called the 'Ham and Cheese Experiment.' Sweet varieties fold in blueberries, s'mores, peach cobbler and more. For $7.75, you get two empanadas and a cold drink.

The Mmmpanadas van is parked at its new site 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays. On Friday and Saturday nights, the van will park outside different Austin nightspots, helping fans catch up by posting their locations at twitter.com/mmmpanadas. So far, locations have included the Longbranch Inn, Scoot Inn and the Luster Pearle.

More information at mmmpanadas.com, 788-2228.